SCUBA Checklist

[Dapper Dan]

I've gotten offshore before and realized I'd left something out of my dive bag.
So I made a checklist for prior to each dive when I pack my dive gear.
I print it on 8.5x11 paper then cut it into three pieces and staple them together at the top to make a "pad".
I put three columns on the left so I can use one sheet for three dive trips. The just rip it off and throw it away for a fresh sheet.

Feel free to print out the PDF and use if you'd find it helpful.

 

[MB NZ]

Checklists are good. The other thing I do is keep all my kit in the same place. Plastic coated wire shelving is useful because it doesn't rust or warp and allows kit to dry. If there's something left on the shelf after packing for a trip, then it needs to go in the bag.

 

[Dapper Dan]

The other thing I do is keep all my kit in the same place.

That's my own fault. Especially with batteries and SD cards and smaller items. I dive about once a week so my mess is usually scattered all over the shop.

 

[wlecyt40]

We create a packing list and a checklist of everything we are taking, what to buy there and how much to buy there. We usually get started with that about 2 weeks before going. We just started that because in 14 days, COZUMEL!!!

 

[Belzelbub]

Nice. I did something similar and have been using for several years. I put it together after heading out on the boat and getting ready to splash. A buddy and I were going spearfishing. He didn't have his own yet, so he was using my old one. Got all the gear together and realized I had forgotten something.

Had the regs, computers, fins, mask, BC. Had a knife, lights, spearguns, stringer. Problem was I had left the spears at home. Just turned it into a fun dive this time.

I use the Notes app on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. That way I always have it with me. I'll often use my iPad to check off the things that may go in the dive bag, then have another check for those grouped items when I actually load. Individual items I'll check as I load the boat, usually using my iPhone at that time.

 

[wlecyt40]

We were getting ready to train and certify for night diving in Mermet IL when I realized that , while I remembered to bring the batteries for the flashlights with us, I left them in the damn hotel room, 40min drive away. WTH!!!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

In addition to a packing list, I also always have a gear checklist in my wetnotes. Makes buddy checks easy as well if I ever decide to dive with someone I just met (very rare). Hand them the wetnotes and tell them to read it out loud and I'll point to each item.

 

[happy-diver]

Checklists are an unnecessary extra to compensate for lack of organization.

and they take up the time you could otherwise use teaching your brain to remember things

What happened, to all those phone numbers, we used to store in the computer in our head

We gave ourselves over to that cell phone, turned us into vegetables that are lost without it

That's what happened

 

[fred32176]

I use the Notes app on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. That way I always have it with me. I'll often use my iPad to check off the things that may go in the dive bag, then have another check for those grouped items when I actually load. Individual items I'll check as I load the boat, usually using my iPhone at that time.

+1 I have a checklist in Notes. Easy to make sure everything is there. I only check stuff off as I put it in my bag or verify it is my bag. My dive buddy thought his wetsuit was already in his bag and swam an hour in a spring is swim trunks...

 

[Dapper Dan]

All the battery/photo/dive light gear can be kept together (I use one of those zippered yellow cases that you get with a strobe from Sealife) while batteries are being charged, photos uploaded, etc. There's no good reason for stuff to be scattered all over the place.

Checklists are an unnecessary extra to compensate for lack of organization.

Yeah I know. It's my bad habit. I use the sd card in the computer room, charge the GoPro and flashlight batteries in the house, and then don't put them back. I used to charge up the 18650 batteries and then put them in the dive back. Until I did night dives and after being in the bag for weeks they discharged. So I usually charge them up the night before a dive.

My SMB and lift bag is usually hanging on the clothesline in the yard to dry and the smaller stuff is in a shopping cart left to dry, and the BC is hanging in the shop to dry. I worry about wetsuits and gloves and hood and socks etc and mildew. We have a subtropical climate here with rain most evenings so humidity is a concern with anything packed up without air flow.

I could and should be more organized but a checklist is just so much easier than keeping account of all the scuba junk I own. LOL It's my own fault that I'm disorganized.